24 June 11

Week 4 is just around the corner!  Hard to believe it's been that long, yet not so hard at the same time. 

The other day we taught an "investigator" (an actor) in Spanish.  Talk about an eye opener!  Despite all of that, Elder Peterson and I were able to commit her to baptism!  Even though it was fate, it still felt so good! ☺

i La iglesia es verdadera!


Has it really been that long?  Half of the time he will spend at the  MTC is over, and in no time at all he will be headed out of the country for Culiacan, Mexico.    

Anyone wanting to send Elder Crabb a letter while he is in the MTC, a great way to do that for FREE is by going through Dear Elder.com.  You'll need to use part of his address:

MTC box # 129,   Mission Code MEX-CUL,   Estimated MTC Departure date 0801
Oh and make sure to sign your name at the bottom, that story still makes me laugh!

Oh and one more thing, he signed this last letter like this:

I'd like to think it's to honor his older brother who served before him.  Both Elder Crabb's are (were) amazing missionaries!  Mexico doesn't realize how lucky it's about to get!

20 June 2011

We got another update this week and it's specifically for you!!

Hey Everybody!  I'm all settled in the MTC.  Things are just chuggin' along now, and my learning curve is exploding! I could talk Spanish circles around all  y'all! 

Thank you to those who have written me.  ☺ Getting a letter absolutely makes my day, and it definitely breaks the monotony.  That being said, I'd love to hear from you if you have a minute!

I'd like to share the story of a missionary, fresh out of the MTC.  Literally, he just arrived into this new country.  His companion told him to go contact somebody.  Nervous as could be, this new missionary stepped toward a man on a park bench, and talked to him about the Book of Mormon.  As many of you know, some favorite verses among missionaries are 1 Nephi 3:7, or 3 Nephi 9.  However, this new missionary, being so nervous, told the man on the park bench to read 3 Nephi 3:7...if you turn there, you will probably know how interested the man ended up being in the church! 

     "i La iglesia es verdadera!"

Talk to you all soon!
Elder Cody Crabb

Haha...that's an awesome story, especially if you keep reading into verse 8...Geeze!...I'll convert, I'll convert!   This letter was among the responses we got to our "letter in a bottle" that my family sent last week, so there were letters for everyone!  I just have to share a few of them because they were so funny!

Wesley sent Cody a picture....I guess Wesley drew a tie?  Makes me wish I had taken a picture of the drawing before we sent it off to Cody.    But I love the randomness here...A watermelon and a balloon?   ☺ Sweet!

Then there is this letter for Rusty!  Just before he left Cody showed us the Spanish cartoons that he had been watching.  I don't remember the name of the cartoon, but there has been several times since then where we would quote a few lines.  One of the lines even Rusty quotes...."Cat's don't like water!"  Anyway, I'm sure you had to be there but as soon as Rusty saw his letter we all stared quoting lines again!  How fun!

Cody also talked about how much he is enjoying the MTC, but "It's a little tough since I'm so anxious to get to Mexico!"    How awesome is that?  I love that he is so excited to serve the people of Mexico.

And for those of you who didn't read the comment section on the last post and are wondering what the MTC orange juice was all about this is a comment I got from facebook when I posted the question there:  "Yes!! They advise you to not have too much!! But boys will be boys... it makes for a stinky day!" Oh those poor Sister Missionaries! Of course Cody would mention something like THAT! ☺

Oh by the way.   "i La iglesia es verdadera!"  means, The Church is True!

10 June 2011

The MTC is like....a PRISON! 

But not in a bad way! ☺  It keeps anything BAD outside!  Even if someone is breaking a rule, it's only because they are going to bed at 11:00 PM or opening a letter at 9:00 PM (you aren't supposed to anytime before 9:30 PM).

     Love,
     Elder Crabb

P.S. This maybe too recent for Shawn, but ask him about the MTC orange juice.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can tell, this isn't the whole letter, first he gushed at how cute my kids are and how he's going to miss them...yeah you don't need to hear that!  (oh wait!)  Then he said he will keep his eyes peeled for the missionary my mom found in Idaho who is going to his same mission, she told him to find Elder Crabb and tell him hi!  (heehee, my mom is so funny!)

Short and sweet but an update from Cody none the less!

The fun part for me, is that his handwritting is a lot like the other Elder Crabb I use to write to, so it's been fun getting letters from him!

Okay so it IS too recent for Shawn...does anyone know what Cody is talking about with the MTC orange juice?  Now I'm curious  (or is it one of those "inside" jokes?)

MTC

So Cody--I mean Elder Crabb has been in the MTC for a little over a week now.  He seems to be really enjoying it, he told his mom that it was just as exciting as going to DISNEYLAND!   How cute is that?  Although he did say the only part that he's not loving so far, is his room is set at like 51 degrees but it's really 81 degrees!  (poor thing---I think it's a bit hotter in Mexico though!!)

Do you know something that is REALLY cool?  DearElder.com  It sends letters for FREE.  You just type Elder Crabb's mailing information, into a online form, type a letter and they deliver it right to him!  Although make sure you always "sign" your name, because apparently even though your name is on the form, they don't include it on the missionaries copy!  I just laughed when we got our first letter from Cody telling us he wasn't 100% sure who sent the letter!  Hehehee!  Anyway you can create an account (or not--I sent one to Provo without one) and send a letter (pouch) to your missionary for free (or for the price of a stamp)...guess what?  Provo MTC and the Mexico, Culiacan mission are both FREE!  (yea!) Exciting no?

Hey I need a favor from you.  I need a few of you to sign up for the automatic emails. It's right over there:
← ...the one that says: ¿Qué pasa Élder Crabb?  Submit your email address, then tell me if you get an email when I post something new.  I just need to make sure it's working!  ( just leave me a comment on the site letting me know.  Thanks!)

For any of you with young children who get the Friend Magazine there is a neat certificate we just ran across a few days after Elder Crabb left.    We are a little behind reading the Friend, we try to read an article every night as a part of our night time routine, we are playing catch-up right now!  After we had said our last good-byes to Uncle Cody and had our last hugs, the next night we opened the March 2011 Friend and realized there were a few articles about serving missions!  There is a certificate reminding us of President Monson's call to prepare to serve a mission!  For FHE we printed out a copy for each of the kids and let them sign it.

We printed out this picture, wrote a few letters (colored a few pictures from the younger two) and sent it to Elder Crabb...inside a bottle!  Hahaha.  In a Dr. Pepper bottle (oh we are mean!)  I think he may have to find scissors to get the letters out! 

 Cody after attending the temple for his first time:  Jordan River Temple  4/30/11

We are so excited for Elder Crabb's next adventures!

Let me know if there is anything you would like to see or hear about with this blog and I'll see if I can make it happen!

TTFN